


Sweet Child O’Mine

by Darkshines1984



Category: Emmerdale
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-27
Updated: 2018-06-27
Packaged: 2019-05-29 10:07:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,486
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15070841
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Darkshines1984/pseuds/Darkshines1984
Summary: Set a few months in the future - Johnny and Moses’ nursery rings and ask to speak to the ‘calm mum’.For @back-in-its-beaky-box, who prompted this fic.





	Sweet Child O’Mine

Charity was on her lunch break when her mobile started ringing. She was half tempted to ignore it and carry on eating her salad in peace but if someone was ringing her in the middle day it was probably important. She picked up the offending item and glanced at the screen – it was the boys nursery.  

“Hi is everything okay?” Charity answered.

“Hello Miss Dingle” she recognised the voice as Sharon, the woman who ran the nursery - “I was wondering if you had time to call in and speak to me this afternoon at two?”

Charity felt her heart sink. She knew it could be nothing too terrible or they would be asking her to come in right this second. However, both Moses and Johnny had been involved in several incidents over the last few weeks - sometimes individually and sometimes as a pair. Apparently, Moses had her and the Dingle propensity for getting into trouble and Johnny had Vanessa’s fiery temper.

“Why what’s wrong?” she sighed.

There was a pause on the other end of the phone and Charity waited with bated breath to hear what had happened this time. It had seemed like a great idea to move Moses to the same nursery as Johnny – especially once Ross had decided to bugger off and go travelling, leaving her as sole parent to Moses -  it meant that one of her or Vanessa could do the nursery run with ease. Hindsight may be starting to prove otherwise.

“Johnny has been fighting with Simon again” Sharon admitted almost sheepishly.

Charity was surprised they were ringing her and not her girlfriend if it was about Johnny. Obviously, everyone was aware that they were a couple and had recently moved in together, but it wasn’t like she was his legal guardian. Not yet anyway. Give them another few months and she dreaded to think how much more domestic they would be. It was all rather ruinning her bad girl public image – and she’d spent years crafting that.

 “You should probably ring Vanessa then…” she started to explain to the nursery owner – but Sharon cut in surprisingly quickly.

“Well Johnny was protecting Moses and…well last time Miss Woodfield became very frustrated very quickly…” the woman admitted awkwardly - “we thought you might be the calmer mum when discussing it with Simon’s parents.”

Charity didn’t know whether to howl with hysterical laughter or cry equally hysterical tears. In the end she settled for a bemused silence. When was it exactly that she became the responsible, ‘calm’, adult figure in any of her kids’ lives – never mind in her partners child’s life? Even when she had been with Cain it had been a competition between who could be the least useless parent to Debbie. Ross had always been Moses’ first port of call in the past and he was a Barton – that should say it all about Charity’s temper. It was ironic that she was viewed as the cooler customer in the first honest, loving and decent relationship she had ever had.

That being said -  Vanessa did hit the roof last time she got called in because Johnny. This Simon kid had been Johnny’s playmate before Moses rocked up and was jealous of their two kids bond. He was basically bullying Moses of the toys and pushing him about at every opportunity. Vanessa had an undoubted hero complex and was quite taken aback that there was any criticism of Johnny wading in to rescue his new family member. By quite taken aback Charity meant very taken aback – animatedly so.    

“I’ll be there at two” Charity finally replied.

“Brilliant” Sharon enthused – Charity could hear the relief in the other woman’s voice - “Goodbye Miss Dingle.”

Charity put the phone down on the table and smirked to herself. She was going to take great glee in repeating that conversation to Vanessa when her girlfriend finished work at the vets.

 

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

 

The meeting with Sharon and Simon’s mum, Claire, wasn’t as bad as Charity had feared – in fact she’d faced far worse from Chas when she’d had to cry off work for the afternoon. She had totally rocked the entire thing and had lain it on thick about her poor son who was being bullied. It was effective at taking the heat of young Johnnybobs, who this time had surpassed himself by actually punching Simon in the face. She had no idea how a kid of his delicate age knew how to throw a punch but credit to him - there might be a featherweight boxer in him just waiting to come out. Moses on the other hand was not about to light up the world of prize fighting despite his Dingle-Barton heritage.

She had messaged Vanessa’s dad before the meeting and told him not to bother picking up the boys because she was getting them.  Having Frank Clayton as part of her childcare routine had taken some getting used too – for both her and him no doubt. There had been a softening of his view on her and his daughter’s relationship since they moved in together and he was handy to have about. Moses liked him and Megan and was comfortable spending a couple of hours with them, Johnny and Eliza until Vanessa finished work and could pick them up.

Charity had collected the boys – neither of whom looked worse for wear (or guilty) after getting in trouble. She had texted Noah to see if he wanted a lift rather than getting the bus. It was a cold, drizzly winter day so it had been no surprise when he had said yes. He was now diligently doing his homework at the table whilst the boys watched cartoons. Charity was using the lull to try and prepare the lasagne for tonight’s dinner.

Just after five there was the distinctive sound of the front door clicking open and Vanessa entered wearing two layers of coat and some woolly gloves. It was only three weeks before Christmas and the temperature had plummeted outside. Tug Ghyll was much cosier and easier to heat than the Woolpack and seemed to stay constantly warm – perhaps aided by its bright walls and fittings that Charity was finally getting used too. Her girlfriend had asked if she wanted to do some redecorating when she first moved in, but she had shrugged it off. It was all very Vanessa – and she really loved Vanessa. In the end all she had done was add some family photos of their kids and her grandkids.

“Everything okay?” Vanessa asked as soon as she removed her yellow body warmer - “I thought you were working this afternoon, but dad said you picked the boys up?”

“Sharon rang and asked me to come in – Johnny’s been scrapping with Simon again” Charity explained.

Vanessa continued to rid herself of her layers as Charity talked, before leaning over the back of the sofa and kissing the two boys on their heads. Noah had already heard the story, but Charity could see that he had paused his work – just as eager as she was to hear and see Vanessa’s reaction.

The smaller woman’s initial reaction was actually quite boring – she just rolled her eyes as she made her way into the kitchen area. Charity knew how passionately Vanessa felt that the nursery needed to clamp down on Simon’s bullying rather than focussing on Johnny’s reaction. The eye roll was frustration at the nursery and not at Charity.

“You should have called me” Vanessa said when she reached Charity - “I don’t know why they couldn’t get me – my phones been on all day and I have signal on reception.”

“Oh babe” Charity chuckled - “they didn’t even try to get hold of you.”

That was the lead in she had been looking for and she smirked in Noah’s direction. He smirked back and pretended to return his focus to his maths. Vanessa on the other hand looked baffled by her glee and raised her eyebrow’s quizzically at Charity.

“They wanted to speak to his calm mum” she explained as casually as possible.

Vanessa snorted and rolled her eyes – obviously presuming Charity was making some sort of bad joke. When the smaller blonde was met with amused silence from both her and Noah, Charity could see the cogs in her brain turning as it dawned on her that Charity was telling the truth. Vanessa’s expression changed to absolute indignation and both her arms flew up in the air.

“Are you serious?!?!” Vanessa ranted.

Charity had to turn away from her girlfriend – her eyes watering as she tried to hold onto her laughter. If ever there was a reaction that proved a point – well…that was it. She flicked the kettle on and grabbed a couple of mugs to make them a brew. At least then she’d have something to hide behind whilst she listened to her tiny fiery girlfriend rage at the nursery for the next ten minutes.  

**Author's Note:**

> Another bit of fun from a prompt. As always, cheers for reading and comments are always appreciated x


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